The Freezer
Previous episode: Cuban Pals Next episode: Lucy Does a TV Commercial http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s29/ABMfisher/700PoundsMeat.jpg http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s29/ABMfisher/Freezer.jpg http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s29/ABMfisher/ElectricBlanket.jpg Plot Meat prices are on the rise, and Lucy is pleading with Ricky to buy her a meat freezer to save money. Ricky refuses, but when Lucy is telling her dilemma to Ethel, Ethel remembers that her Uncle Oscar is soon retiring from his job as a butcher, and he has a "big, cold chest" that he might sell to Lucy. So, Ethel calls Uncle Oscar, the girls get the freezer for a good price, and Lucy enthusiastically gets on the phone to order meat. She hears what she thinks is a very good deal for beef prices, but the good price is by the side. Lucy says that she doesn't know how big a side of beef is, and Ethel reasons that it can't be much bigger than a side of bacon. So, Lucy orders two sides of beef, one for her and one for Ethel. When the beef arrives, the girls are horrified at the amount of meat they ordered. The entire kitchen is filled by the time the first side of beef has been unloaded. The girls are in a jam- not only do they have to hide all of this meat before their husbands come home, they spent a huge amount of money buying so much meat. Lucy tells Ethel to stall their husbands to ask Ricky to sing while she finds a way to get all of the meat out of the freezer. Thinking fast, Lucy throws all of the meat into the furnace, since Fred has it turned off to repair it. While unloading the last of the meat, she gets stuck in the freezer. The door closes on her, and there is no way to get out, since the door locks from the outside. When the gang goes looking for Lucy, they find their little "quick-frozen redhead" completely ice-encased. Even her tears have frozen to her cheeks. They rescue Lucy, wrap her in an electric blanket, and give her hot soup to drink, in order to recover. Lucy can't relax for long, though. Everybody starts smelling cooked meat, and Lucy finds out that Fred was just down in the basement fixing the furnace. She tells everyone to "grab a bottle of ketchup" for the "biggest barbecue in the world." Trivia *Uncle Oscar is married to Ethel's Aunt Emmy. *Uncle Oscar doesn't charge Lucy anything for the freezer itself, just a $50 charge for installation. *The girls end up ordering 700 pounds of beef for a total of $483. *For once, Lucy doesn't catch her toast when the Ricardos' weird toaster pops up the toast into the air. She dusts it off from the floor and eats it. *Ricky and Fred buy 30 additional pounds of meat to give to the girls as a "new freezer" present. *Lucy and Ethel try to hide their meat selling at the butcher's by disguising their ruse as a baby carriage. The meat was kept in the front of the carriage, the scale was kept in the back. *Lucy tells the butcher customers that she and Ethel are able to sell their meat so cheap because of how they do everything themselves, from raising the cattle to making the meat. *Ethel would have gotten stuck in the freezer first, had Lucy not been down in the basement with her. *Ricky's "naked" eggs that Ethel ends up eating look to maybe be of the over-easy variety. When Ethel cuts them open with her fork, yolk runs out. *This is the first of three times that Lucy will wear her famous Vitameatavegamin dress in an episode. She wears it for the Vita commercial in the very next episode, in fact. Like most of the clothes worn in season 1, the Vita dress was bought off the rack at a local clothing store. Years later, Lucy gave the dress to her friend Marion Strong Van Vlack to sew into doll's clothes. *The plot of some character getting stuck in a freezer has been used many times over since this episode aired. Quotes *Ricky: (about not having bacon to eat with his eggs) Look, Lucy, I can't eat eggs that way. They look absolutely naked! Lucy: Look the other way when you eat 'em! *Fred: (about furnace being off) This house might be a home freezer itself by night! Ethel: Charm boy. Lucy: Yeah... *Ethel: My Uncle Oscar's a butcher, and he's got a big cold chest. Lucy: Why don't you knit him a sweater? *Lucy: That isn't a side of beef. That must be a side of elephant! *Woman: Is this choice beef? Lucy: Absolutely! Give the little lady her choice, Ethel! Ethel: Sing?! You know he won't! Lucy: Oh, won't he? Listen, you take care of the ham, I'll take care of the beef! *Lucy: I've got sirloin, tenderloin, T-bone, rump, pot roast, chuck roast, Oxtail stump! *Lucy: Dance with them, talk, sing! That's it- ask Ricky to sing. Lucy: Oh, WON'T he! Look, you take care of the ham, I'll take care of the beef! Fred: How 'bout that dandy little ditty entitled "Let's Vamoose-o to El Freeze-o"? *Ricky: (to Ethel) What would you like to hear now? *Ricky: (signing to Lucy inside the freezer) Boo-hoo-hoo! DUNT! Boo-hoo-hoo! DUNT! *Lucy: (teeth chattering; to Ricky) T-t-turn the b-b-b-lanket up another notch! *Lucy: Don't ask questions! Just get a knife and a fork and a bottle of ketchup and follow me to the biggest barbecue in the whole world! ﻿